Ok, I'm having a little anxiety about this and am not sure how to handle it. First off, I'm a self-admitted foodie/food snob. I want the food at the wedding to be fabulous so we are going with a venue that lets us bring in our own caterer. I'm finding that most the the caterers will not do a tasting until a contract has been signed and a deposit placed. How can I possibly know the caterers standards/how they treat their food without tasting it first?
I'm looking at a couple places that are also restaurants that do catering so that's not a problem. My issue is committing a huge chunk of my wedding $$ to an un-tasted caterer? Also, I'm planning this wedding from across the country so I'm not familiar with the caterers in the area (who's good/reliable and who isn't).
Any suggestions? Anyone else feel like it's crazy to fork over all this money without knowing what the food will taste/look like?